S'porean man, 45, tried to murder extramarital affair partner, 43, with chopper after she asked to break up

In 2002, a man and a woman met, briefly dated, and then went their separate ways within a year.

Fifteen years later, they crossed paths again as married man and woman — to their individual partners.

They began a two-year extramarital affair that ultimately left one of them with permanent scars and the other facing a court case.

The Singaporean man, Chong Shiong Hui, attacked the woman with a knife and chopper after she asked to end the relationship.

On Nov. 28, 2024, five years after the attack, Chong pleaded guilty to attempted murder, with two additional charges of mischief to be considered during sentencing.

The affair

Chong, 45, and the victim, 43, initially dated in 2002.

According to court documents seen by Mothership, they reconnected in August 2017 and resumed their dalliance, despite being married to other people.

The victim's husband discovered the affair in November 2018.

A year later, in November 2019, the victim decided to end the relationship.

She sent Chong a message on November 28, 2019, telling him she "wanted to take a break from their relationship".

Enraged by breakup

Enraged, Chong proceeded to threaten to hurt the victim, her family or himself over the next two days.

He had planned to "forcibly change her mind and to kill her if she did not", the prosecution said.

Even after spending a night out drinking with his wife on Nov. 29, he continued to send threatening messages to the victim, claiming to make her a "widow".

He then fell asleep after taking two tablets of Stilnox (zolpidem) — a medication used to treat insomnia.

Prepared a chopper & two tins of petrol

The next day, on Nov. 3, Chong went to the victim's house in the wee hours of the morning after she did not answer his call.

He brought along a chopper with him, as well as two tins of petrol, cigarettes and a lighter.

Not wanting the victim's husband to follow him, he deflated the tyres of her husband's cars upon reaching her block.

Meanwhile, he was intoxicating himself by sipping from a bottle of cognac mixed with water.

Chong approached the victim's unit and tried to get their attention by switching off the main electrical switchboard.

However, no one responded to him.

He eventually returned to his car and fell asleep after sipping from his cognac bottle again.

At about 7am, he continued his behaviour, going up to the flat and calling for the victim and her husband.

The victim’s husband saw Chong through the window and told him that he would call the police.

Chong eventually left after the husband said the victim was not in.

Throughout the morning, Chong continued sending her harassing messages, including one that read: “I will kill everyone that block my way."

At 9:07am, he sent a picture of the tins of petrol and the chopper, with a warning message: “I put this outside ur (sic) house."

The victim finally told Chong to stop threatening her and arranged to meet at his parents' house, intending to ask the parents to "control" Chong.

Slashed her

At about 1pm later in the day, Chong went to his parents' house and waited for the victim.

He placed a 15.9 cm kitchen knife and a chopper on a table on the car porch and lay in wait.

When the victim arrived, she asked to speak outside the front gate, but Chong pulled her inside and closed the gate.

He grabbed the chopper and pointed it at her as they argued.

Chong ended up swinging the chopper and slashing the victim on her right upper forearm, even commenting that the chopper was blunt.

He swung the chopper at her again, slashing her forearms and her head.

The victim screamed as she squatted and turned around.

Chong continued to slash her, this time on her thigh.

The victim asked if they could speak, and they continued to argue about why the victim had to end the relationship.

At this point, Chong dropped the chopper because of the victim’s struggles, and the victim kicked it away.

Chong went to retrieve the kitchen knife, and the victim ran away from him to the garden area.

"Let's die together"

However, he managed to catch up with the victim, grabbed her neck and asked whether she ever loved him.

The victim replied yes.

Chogn then told her, “Let’s die together” in Mandarin, but the victim replied that she did not want to die with him.

He then attempted to slash the victim in her neck and chest, but the victim dodged this by turning around, resulting in him slashing her at her back and the back of her head multiple times.

A neighbour eventually heard the victim screaming, "Help me!" and witnessed her defending herself with a flowerpot.

Chong continued attacking the victim, not deterred even when she managed to cause him to drop the kitchen knife.

Dropped his chopper, dropped a kitchen knife, found a handsaw

He found a handsaw lying in the car porch area and picked it up with the intent to slash the victim again.

Despite the victim pleading for him to stop, he attempted to swing the handsaw.

He only put it down after finding it to be too unwieldy.

At this point, Chong’s parents returned home and were informed by another neighbour that their son was "chopping a woman" in their house.

When the parents opened the gate, the victim took the opportunity to escape.

Found his chopper again

However, Chong managed to pick up the chopper and slashed her again on her back.

The impact of the contact with the victim's back was so strong that the chopper fell to the ground.

The victim managed to run away, shouting at the neighbours to call the police.

Chong gave chase and caught up with the victim, grabbing her and causing her to fall.

He stamped on the victim’s body several times, including her head and back, as she struggled on the ground.

He only stopped when his 72-year-old mother caught up to him and asked him to stop.

She then assisted the victim.

Arrested

The police eventually arrived at around 1:39 pm and found the victim covered in blood, accompanied by Chong’s mother.

Chong walked towards them, and the victim identified him as the assailant.

He was arrested at around 2:20pm and was found to be intoxicated at the time of the offence.

The scars left on victim

The victim was left with extensive injuries that put her on two months of hospitalisation leave.

She suffered minimally displaced fractures on her skull, as well as multiple laceration injuries (ranging from 1cm to 11cm) all over her upper body, including her scalp, forearms, ear, neck, chest, flank, and fingers.

She also suffered permanent disfigurement in terms of scarring and scalp alopecia from lacerations she received to her scalp.

According to a forensic pathologist quoted by the prosecution, Chong’s assault was "very dangerous" in the sense that there was a real potential and serious risk of causing the loss of body parts and death.

The prosecution said the victim “truly believed that she was about to die there and then”.

The victim suffered flashbacks of the "harrowing experience" for about 1.5 years, which disturbed her sleep and caused her to feel tired and moody during the day.

Worried about a potential revenge plan against them, her family eventually moved house.

She also faced inconvenience in her client-facing job as a manager due to the many scars on her back, arms and hand.

The accused

Chong was seen by a psychiatrist from the Institute of Mental Health and was found likely to be in a state of acute alcohol and drug (Stilnox) intoxication at the time of the offence, which can lead to impairment of judgement and self-control.

However, he did not have any underlying alcohol or substance use disorder or mental disorder.

He was also not of unsound mind at the time of the alleged offence.

Calling the attack "sustained" and "vicious", the prosecution said it displayed Chong’s blatant disregard of human life.

They asked for 16 to 18 years in jail and five to six strokes of the cane for Chong.

His sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 6, 2024.

Top photo from Canva